The First
by MadgeD12
Summary: Damon Illea, the second and youngest son of Gregory Illea is devastated after his only brother died; the people are only just becoming accustomed to the caste system and need something to unite them. Thus The Selection was born. 35 girls from every caste are chosen to take part of the Selection and try for Illea, and the future Kings heart.
1. The First

The First

Damon Illea, the second and youngest son of Gregory Illea is devastated after his only brother died; the people are only just becoming accustomed to the caste system and need something to unite them. Thus The Selection was born. 35 girls from every caste are chosen to take part of the Selection and try for Illea, and the future Kings heart.

Because this is the first Selection, participants are actually chosen at random so every caste has a fair chance at getting a girl at be a princess and future queen. This means that there is no need for a photo so that anyone can enter family members of friends without their consent.

**The Selected:**

**1-Holly Margon**, 3 typical blonde hair, blue eyes. The kind of girl you would pass over if you never had a proper reason to get to know her. She's kind and looks after others without making it obvious and never asks for anything in return

**2-Madison Warren**, 5 brown hair and brown eyes. She comes from a large family so she has the natural instinct to protect those around her, especially younger girls who remind her of her little sister Natasha

**3-Courtney Wilson,** 4 short strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes. She stays to herself mostly until you get to know her then she has a completely changed personality becoming a loud extroverted person.

**4-April Shaw**, 3 black hair and green eyes. She relies on her stunning good looks to get her through life, she's tall and thin with a perfect hourglass figure, but people usually notice that she has a bland personality once you hold a conversation with her.

**5-Lucy James**, 3 white blonde hair and blue eyes. She would be the perfect princess. She's naturally kind and loving. She is very intelligent and can hold herself well in stressful situations, calmly and with excellent confidence.

**6-Maya Wells**, 4 light brown hair and deep green eyes. She is loud and doesn't particularly think or care about her actions. She doesn't think before she says or does anything. Her intentions are usually good.

**7-Renee Clarkson**, 6 pixie cut blonde hair and brown eyes. People usually judge her on her seemingly detached state of mind. She is often caught staring into space and doodling on her note book while she is supposed to be holding a conversation.

**8-Saffron Young**, 5 curly brown hair and green eyes. She will hold most of the conversation for you, and the both of you will certainly never run out of things to talk about because of her hatred of silence she will always be either talking to herself, others or singing.

**9-Christie Moore**, 2 long brown hair and brown eyes. She knows that she's more attractive and smart than any other person in the room and she lets them know. She always thinks that she's better, on an elite status.

**10-Allay Verma**, 3 black hair and brown eyes. Creative and free, her destined career will limit her to a life of teaching but she would really like to be a 5, despite the obvious draw backs, she enjoys music and art over anything else in the world.

**11-Sadie Price**, 6 light brown hair and deep blue eyes. Always friendly she is accepted into almost any situation easily because of the way she adapts to anyone's personality and her instinct to please the people around her.

**12-Milena Jefferson**, 4 brown hair and bright green eyes. She is usually viewed as timid by the ones around her because of her tendency to think for a couple of seconds before she responds or answers any questions.

**13-Astrid Bell,** 7 dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. She is a natural leader and takes charge in any way possible. She if fierce and defensive around people she doesn't know at the fear or risk of being judged for her caste.

**14-Tanya Baines**, 7 red hair and deep green eyes. Comfortable in front of a crowd she holds herself well and is very confident in public speaking. However she is not the best conversationalist finding it hard to interact one-on-one.

**15-Kiva Griffin,** 8 light straight brown hair and green eyes. Very intelligent despite her caste and her obviously limited education. Every time she was allowed to go, even for a day, to her provinces run down public school she excelled in every class.

**16-Briar Turner**, 4 black hair and brown eyes. She's very independent and is questioning how she managed to get into the Selection in the first place. She believes she's is un-fit for a married life as she prefers to go through things alone.

**17-Queenie Reynolds**, 2 platinum blonde hair, with a pink dip-dye and light blue eyes. She's been taught to think she's better than everyone else. So that is exactly what she does, she looks down on everyone below her, including 3s who are nowhere near poverty.

**18-Samantha Lucas**, 6 knotted brown hair and grey eyes. She knows that she will never be the prettiest girl in the room or the girl that everyone wants to be. Because of this she never draws attention to herself and prefers not to make a scene.

**19-Josie Bennett**, 8 short blonde hair and brown eyes. To put it nicely she's quiet. She may be one of the most boring people in the selection. With no particular good looks or conversation skills she often gets over-shadowed by bigger personalities.

**20-Sherri Howard**, 7 waist length black hair and blue eyes. Her model good looks are wasted working in factories and road works all day. In nicer clothes and even just a touch of make-up she could easily pass off as a 2.

**21-Annie Carter**, 8 bright red hair and blue eyes. She is quite the individual, never bothering going with how things are supposed to she does what she likes when she likes to, other people's judgement doesn't matter to her.

**22-Joanna Lee**, 5 short brunette hair grey eyes. She's very idealistic, disgusted with Illeas war efforts she believes in world peace and everything being calm. She wants the 'typical romance' ending with marriage, kids and growing old with her husband.

**23-Verity Mage**, 7 blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. She is very fun-loving and loves to be around people. She is either constantly laughing or telling a joke to whoever will listen. Some find her energy infections, others find it off-putting.

**24-Summer Westley,** 6 blonde hair blue eyes. She hates anything that isn't normal. She has her daily routine down to a T, and if anything goes wrong she finds it very hard to change her schedule to fit anything new.

**25-Riley Williams**, 8 curly brown hair, green-grey eyes. She is very tom-boyish and the thing she's dreading the most about moving into the palace is wearing all the dresses, putting on the make-up and her least favourite thing in the world, heels.

**26-Mickey Bachelor**, 5 wavy blonde hair and brown eyes. She is insanely talented, which is good for her caste, singing and playing the piano are her strengths and is in very high demand every time holidays come along.

**27-Rosie Shuster**, 3 brown hair and deep blue eyes. She's not quiet but not loud either, she is on the fence about almost everything as tries to avoid conflict at any opportunity agreeing or disagreeing with what she has to so that the argument will end.

**28-Daniella (Dani) Lawrence**, 2 thin black hair and blue eyes. She appears confident to everyone around her, seemingly indestructible. But being so perfect for so long has taken its toll and she's starting to crack.

**29-Ellie Simons, **4 dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is an easy conversationalist but she changes her personality to suit who she's talking to. Who she really is may have gotten lost under all these different personalities she puts on.

**30-Lydia Jensen, **6long curly brown hair and green-blue eyes. She is very curious and always wonders how things work or why things are. She doesn't care about the rules as long as she finds out the answer to a question

**31-Grace Martin, **5 black hair and deep blue eyes. She's very sarcastic and has a very mean streak. She tends to find the worst in people and doesn't try to change her opinion, even if people work to make themselves seem better.

**32-Vanya O'Kelly**, 2 perhaps one of the most outspoken people the Selected will ever meet**. **Her opinion is quickly made and usually the first to be heard, even if she knows it will offend people in the room.

**33-Eleanor Parks, **4 raven black hair and really dark brown eyes. She likes to get to know other people before she gets to know them and is easily intimidated by people who are loud and open up to her straight away.

**34-McKenzie Johansson **2, blonde-red hair blue eyes. She takes everything very seriously, insanely competitive she will not stop until she gets what she wants. She is very demanding and hates it when other people beat her at anything.

**35-Chris Meyer, **5 fair blonde hair and light blue eyes. She is very warm hearted and popular among most people, but it is easy to get frustrated at her little habits such as always having to have a straight napkin and she cannot sit still if she knows her bead is not made.


	2. The Beggining

The Beginning

Damon Illea was sweating nervously as the camera crews readied themselves to go on air in 5 minutes. A few months back the King of Illea, Gregory Illea, and his son Damon realised that they would soon need a princess to become the eventual Queen. This need mixed with the fact that Illea was a relatively new country with the population needing something to get together for, to support resulted in The Selection. They both came up with the idea of 35 ordinary girls, from every caste, getting randomly selected to take part a competition to vie for the future King Damon's heart along with the crown and prestige of saying that you were the Queen of Illea.

Now here they were, Damon and his father readying themselves to see the 35 girls that are part of the Selection, know that one of them will be Damons wife. Along with the thousands of young girls between 16 and 20, all across Illea, sitting either in front of the TV in their homes or finding one in store windows on the street to see if they will be one of the 35 chosen girls to have the chance of becoming royalty.

"And the report will begin is 3…2...1"a cameraman shouted pointing towards Felix Fadaye, the current host of the Capital Report and the man who interviews the royals.

"Damon" he begins "you must be quite excited! After all tonight you will get your first sighting of your wife-to-be" he ended the sentence with a playful nudge of the princes arm.

"Not so much excited as nervous… I can't stop fidgeting" the prince said, pulling his hands through his dark brown hair.

"Well I'm sure it'll all turn out fine, one girl in thirty-five must be princess material after all. So without waiting another minute, we will introduce you to those 35 girls."

The girls throughout the country all had quite separate reactions. Some such as Holly Margon or Lucy James gracefully accepted their congratulatory hugs and phone calls from their loved ones without making much of a fuss. Others such as Courtney Wilson, Ellie Simons or Vanya O'Kelly screamed once their name was called and sighed looking at Prince Damon when he was staring at their name. Perhaps the most unique reaction was Maya Wells, who stared in shock for a few moments then started yelling as anyone who would listen trying to figure out who entered her into the Selection in the first place, because she certainly did not.

A week passed quickly for all those involved, Damon reading and re-reading the information he got given about the girls, spending meal times wondering what they may look like or how they may act. Summer Westley had quickly adjusted to the busy schedule for the life of a Selected, however she did get over-whelmed at times. Queenie Reynolds ordered everyone who stepped foot into her house to say what they have to say and then leave, she wanted to save herself for the prince.


	3. The Arrival

The Arrival

**Hi guys so I hope you're enjoying the story :D Please review so I can improve my writing, and tell me your favourite girls so that I can keep them in the competition for longer! I will try to update at least once a week.**

The girls arrived in groups of four, after getting welcomed by the mayor of their province and saying goodbye to their loved ones they got on the plane and did one of three things, sized up their competition or socialised with their competitors. Some even did both.

Renee Clarkson and Melina Jefferson were easy friends because of their supposedly detached state of mind. Allay Vema and Saffron Young spent the whole time singing together and laughing whenever another was out of tune, much to the disgust of Queenie Reynolds who glared in disgust whenever they would collapse in laughter. April Shaw spent the entire flight fixing her make-up and giving the odd sideways gland to Riley Williams who had never bothered with make-up in her entire life and stared at April for most of the flight seeing if it really made a difference. Kiva Griffin and McKenzie Johansson got into a heated argument about the caste system and whether or not it was fair, Rosie Shuster hid in the corner for most of that flight while Joanna Lee tried to moderate the argument and get both sides to agree on an easy non-violent alternative.

The flights were staged at 30 minute intervals so the crowd waiting at the airport and the people at home could see every selected girl arrive, and how they would act in front of the public. Verity Mage joked her way down the line of fans, making them laugh at silly faces she was pulling in the photos. Courtney Wilson went bright red as soon as the fans started screaming her name; she almost ran into the limousine about 30 metres away. Others such as Sadie Price laughed and talked with almost anyone in line taking pictures signing posters, the security guards had to usher her away because the next plane was arriving. Damon watched intently as he got his first glimpse of the woman he was going to marry. He tried not to admit it to himself but he was already making decisions about who he may send home first and who he could see on his arm for the rest of his life. But he tried to remain un-bias while watching the footage.

Once they arrived many of the girls looked expectantly thinking that they would see the Prince or even a sight of the King! But they were obviously disappointed when an obviously pregnant woman ushered them into a large room covered in mirrors, couches and vast amounts on colourful beauty products lined the walls behind the many people in the room.

"Girls, girls please I know this is exiting and new but you need to remain professional!" the pregnant woman said, failing to get their attention. "Come now ladies, its make-over day we need to take your before photo's. Girls…GIRLS! If you do not quieten down immediately I will be forced to tell the prince about your behaviour"  
That got them all quiet. One girl almost started crying, whilst others payed close attention to what she would say next.  
"I knew that would work" she said with a satisfied smile. "Now my name is Sophia, I will guide you through this process, teaching the basic rules of being a princess. Today is make-over day, to get you ready to see the prince and make you all more… royal. If you could all line up over here for your first photos then a beauty team will take you to a station" there was a pause as all the girls looked around, seeing who would be brave enough to make the first move. 

"Oh my _god_ seriously I'll go first if you're all going to be like that" Queenie Reynolds said pushing through everyone to get to the front of the queue.

After that everything moved very quickly. The makeovers were a luxury for some, and a nightmare for others. Holly Margon got her hair dyed completely brown with bright red nail polish, she didn't look very happy as she was thinking of the girls back home she occasionally saw with red lip-stick and red nail polish walking the streets late at night looking for a rich 2 or 3. Camera crews came around and stopped for a while at some girls station, clearly choosing favourites because they only stayed for a few seconds at other girls stations. The smug look on Vanya O'Kelly's face showed that she knew more air time would mean more fans, and they could result in a longer stay in the palace.

Some of the girls that were finished with their make-overs were in the process of getting their 'after' shots taken and were getting interviewed. Dani Lawrence was smiling and laughing with the interviewer. But her stomach was in knots because she knew this interview would be part of her first impression to Illea and to Prince Damon.

"So, Dani after this brief glimpse at the palace, what are you most impressed with so far?"

"Well… I live the way people are treating me, everybody's so nice. The sixes, the maids, are treating me so well. One even told me a little secret, to help my chances of winning!"

"Oh, do tell"

She leaned in and put on a stage whisper, hoping that people wouldn't actually listen in.

"She told me that…Damon loves the scent vanilla, so she covered me in it! Here smell my wrist" she held out her hand for the interviewer and giggled.

The interviewer laughed with her and smelled her wrist "Oh that's so nice, I'm sorry but that draws our interview to a close. It should be plenty of footage and a great first impression"

The rest of the interviews were very similar, however every other girl held back on mentioning the prince. Dani and the interviewer were the only two people who started conversations about the prince in that room, that day.


	4. The First Meetings

The First Meeting

**So this will be the first official elimination, and hopefully you will get to know some of the girls better, PM me or review me and tell me your favourites so that I we can keep them for longer :D**

Damons hands were sweating and he was dreading having to hold 35 others. Actually he couldn't decide his emotions on that matter, one minute he was excited, another he was on the brink of tears. His mother had come to his room to set his nerves at ease, she hadn't gone through this experience herself of course, however she did know the pressures of first dates.

"Honey, are you almost ready? The girls are already down there waiting, they will become restless." She almost whispered. Her tone was never harsh but never weak. Her voice was a seamless balance in-between. Perfect for a mother and a Queen.

"Yes mother, but I am just trying to figure out what I will say, how I will act. My first impression is just as important as theirs." Damon said failing to look his mother in the eye.

"I know honey. Just be yourself, present yourself how you wish and I'm sure they will be more than happy. Half those girls are already in love with you, you know?" She half-smiled knowing that this was true.

"Okay. Okay, yes I'm ready."

"Just, please remember who you are when you make some of those girls go home today. But almost as important as that, think about who you want to be. And send the girls home who you know won't fit your future."

They looked at each other for a long time. Queen Adela with her eyebrows creased and Damon looked as though he was having a mental argument with himself. Eventually he broke the silence.

"I guess I should be going then. Don't want to keep them waiting any longer" He said with a half-hearted chuckle.

Once he was downstairs in the hall, the girls stood at awkward times, because they didn't particularly know when to stand, or if they were supposed to. But Damon raised his hand to let them know they should sit.

"Ladies, I would like to get to know each and every one of you better today. Our first official one-on-one meetings. Do not worry, none of them will be televised so there should be no concern of putting on a show for the audience. Just be yourself and that shall be good enough for me."

The girls looked at each other nervously. All of them thinking the same thing: is 'myself' good enough to be a princess?

Damon moved over to an intimate set of coffee-shop style table and chairs, he read the first name off a long list he found on the table. "Allay Verma, could you please come over?"

Allay walked over, checking that her dress was smooth and her shiny black hair was sitting nicely on her shoulders. "Hi, I'm Allay" she said, while he kissed her hand.

"Damon, very pleased to meet you. So Allay I will admit I'm not really sure how to do this. I've never been on a date before you see. And I'm sure you haven't either considering the laws. Sorry, I'm rambling, it's the nerves I guess." He spoke quite quickly with very little pauses.

"It's fine. I think everyone in this room is nervous, in one way or another. I'll start by telling you a bit about me. I am Allay Verma, a 3 from Waverly. I really love music, playing the piano mostly and painting. But I know that being a 3, I won't be able to make that a full time career. But I think I'll teach music. Like my mother"

"I feel like that's exactly what I need from every girl, a little de-brief of who they are." He sighed, knowing that some of the girls wouldn't share anything, and some would share too much. "I am very sorry but these have to be fast and I need to see the next girl. It was very nice to meet you." With that she stood up, holding perfect posture, curtsied and walked back to the other girls.

Some of the other meetings were like this. Mainly because Damon asked to tell him all about themselves in 5 sentences or less.

Eleanor Parks was quite shy when she said hers "I, uhhhh, I'm a 4 from Likely. I come from a large family, 3 um 3 sisters and 2 brothers. That's it, I ah, I think." Others such as Ellie Simons described herself with confidence "My caste is 4. I am from Angeles and I love most things. My family is small, I am an only child. However I do have a lot of cousins as my grandmother had 7 kids. Do you want to have kids Damon?" That question startled him "I, uhhh, I'll have to answer that one later I'm afraid our time is up!"

After the interviews were finished the girls were all beginning to get hungry. They all looked up excitedly as the final meeting ended, and Damon stood as Riley Williams took her seat looking confident. "You girls all did very well today, I will admit I was not expecting such a diverse group of girls. I don't want to hold you up any longer but would Summer, Holly, Courtney, Sadie Josie, Verity, Joanna , Chris, Eleanor, Lydia and Mickey please stay behind. The rest of you, of you could make your way to the dining room that would be excellent."

As the girls shuffled out they looked on edge. Would this be their last meal? Was he already narrowing it down to the top eleven? And one thought that crossed everybody but Damons mind. What did I do wrong? After the door had closed on the last girl Damon crossed the room so he stood in the centre facing the remaining girls. "Now I'm sure you are all wondering why you have been called here. I am very sorry but it is not good news. All of you are going home immediately. You may take your dresses and whatever you would like from your rooms. I am very sorry you all had to go home so soon. Goodbye." With that Damon left very quickly, he didn't want to have to deal with eleven emotional girls. He wanted to see the others, after all one of the remaining 24 would become his wife.


	5. The Project

The project

**Please, please pleeease review or PM me your favourites or any suggestions! I don't want to choose who wins by myself and I really want to improve my writing!**

The next day the girls were instructed to get changed into a day dress and kitten heels, then make their way down to the woman's room by 9 o'clock. Their maids had told them Sophia had some exciting news for them. Riley Williams had grown fond of her maids; she never had very many people to help her as she was an eight. The three of them were quiet and always eager to help her choose what dress to wear, they made her feel as though all this dressing up may well be worth it.

Once they had all arrived in the woman's room, by 9:30 thanks to Queenie and Christie, Sophia ushered them to three large couches at the back of the room. Once their talking had died down Sophia stood in front of them smiling. "Girls I have some very important news for you! Prince Damon has requested for me to give you a little project, so he could get to know you better! He left all the details up to me but he said that he still doesn't feel as though he knows any of you." Several hands went up and Sophia was impressed by their manners. "Yes McKenzie?"

"Wait so does this mean that you're close with Prince Damon, if he like 'requests' things for us to do through you?" McKenzie asked with an accusing tone.

"Oh yes quite, I have known him since he was just a baby! I have over-seen his education and general life in the palace, as of now my role to him is the Selection Advisor, I oversee everything both Damon, and all of you do in relation to the Selection."

McKenzie leaned back in her chair looking satisfied, her smirk and raised eyebrow showed that she had figured out what none of the other girls had. If she could get close to Sophia, she may recommend her to Damon so he could keep her in the competition for longer. She knew that this could be a massive advantage later on in the competition.

"Girls we are running out of time so no more questions and I will just tell you what your task is. Over the next week you are all to give me something small and presentable to the Prince to show who you are, who you think the essence of your true self is. It could be anything from a piece of creative writing to an essay, a song or a dance. Be creative, use your imagination. All resources such as cameras, paper or art supplies will be available to you upon request. Any questions?" Sophia looked at all of the contestants, observing their reactions, which ranged from excitement to excitement to horror. Slowly a hand went up, it was Allay Vema.

"Could we like… work together or something?" she turned her head to see the sceptical looks being thrown her way, she quickly tried to justify herself "I mean to make a performance of some sort, like a play or writing a song! Think about it someone who could write, could collect information about people and write lyrics, a me or another five could put those lyrics to an instrument like the piano. I love the piano it's so beautiful and then a really good singer could sing the song directly to him or on tape to show him!" she got more and more enthusiastic as she spoke.

Everyone's reactions changed after that, she got some reassuring nods and some people looked really impressed or even jealous that they didn't come up with the idea. Sophia looked proud, it seemed she had a favourite. "I don't see why not!" she responded "in fact that is a very good idea and I am expecting to see at least one group project. Now if that's all I should be going and you girls need to get started!"


	6. The Top 20

The Top 20

**Another chapter, another elimination! I'm going on holiday for a week so don't be expecting a chapter next week sorry! Please I really need reviews, there were a few PMs that helped me send people home this week so keep em' coming, that's all for now see you again in two weeks.**

Madison Warren adjusted the camera to fit perfectly with the top of her dress and her piano. "Aimee could you check if I look okay and make sure the camera angle is perfect! You've heard me rehearsing do you think my song is okay? Do you think Damon would like it! Oh I hope he does, I've worked so hard on it and a week isn't a very long time to write a song. Sorry I'm babbling! Please just tell me if it's okay." She looked nervously at her maid.

"Relax Maddy. Oh...I uh I mean Madison. Please forgive me it's ju-" the maid looked flustered and began biting her lip, her nervous habit.

"Aimee its fine, you can call me Maddy if you want, it's what all my friends call me at home. You sort of remind me of home."

"Okay, well your camera looks fine and you look beautiful. Jaime really did a good job on your make-up" from the other side of the room another maid blushed and looked up smiling.

With that Aimee ushered the other maids out of the room to let Madison record her project. It really had been a hurry to write the song, and she knew that some girls still hadn't thought of anything to do. But it was due tomorrow and it was the best she had at this short notice. She turned on the camera and sat down in front of her piano.

"Damon, I wrote this for you. Hope you like it." With that she turned from the camera and began playing. When she played music or when she sang is when she really felt at home. The lyrics came to her as though it was the only thing she knew how to say.

_You barely know that I exist  
But I want you to know this  
Every time I look at you  
Oh baby I feel brand new_

Through the walls of the palace Madisons three maids stared at each other in shock. They had heard her practising, but that had only been small lines from the song and humming of the tune. They had no idea she was this good, her voice was like velvet smooth and soft, and the piano was better than any palace musician that they had ever heard. Once she began the chorus was when they really heard how powerful her voice could be, it was as though she was shouting but she sounded beautiful.

_When the lightning strikes  
And the thunder hits your heart  
When the storm breaks  
We'll be tearing love apart_

As the song began to end she trailed off ending on a flourish of the piano. She took a few seconds to re-group and once again turned to the camera.

"So uh, so that's it. I hope you got to know a little more about me. I guess that's all, we should uh… we should do this again sometime" Madison gave the camera a shy smile and tuned it off.

In other areas of the palace girls were struggling, while others flourished under the pressure. Allay Vema worked together with Riley Williams to pull off a dramatic and very difficult dance routine. Rosie Shuster had already finished 3 days prior to the due date, simply making him a scrapbook filled with photos and memories from her childhood. Others did very similar things, writing poems and making posters were the two most popular ways of presenting themselves, although nobody else wrote their own song and performed it.

Maya Wells filled a whole 5 minute video with facts all about her and her family.

"Hey Damon! So like I reeeeeaaaalllllyyy didn't know what to do for this. I'm not creative enough to write or draw anything, I don't particularly have any talents that I can express myself through. So I'm making a video, just me talking to you. It's what I do best, talking…"

Damons reaction was as expected. He loved every girls project, he didn't want to send any of them home. But the King was getting restless, in his eyes Damon should already be down to the top 15. Instead he chose to send home yet another four girls, narrowing it down to the top 20.

The day they found out was a windy Saturday, they were all in the womens room when a maid came in carrying a tray with four names to be sent to his study. The girls were Allay Vema, Riley Williams, Rosie Shuster and Madison Warren. But much to the other girls excitement those girls returned beaming and chattering excitedly among them.

"He said we were the best! We were the standouts among all 24 girls" Riley said impersonating the prince.

The rest of the girls looked crestfallen, all of them wondering what they did or didn't do to be a favourite of Damons.

"Also he wanted uhhh Renee, Grace, Melina and April to go see him, I think the maids waiting outside to show you the way!"

The second four left down heartened, they knew why they were going there. And they were all quite right because the news Prince Damon had was not good news. He told them not to be disappointed. That they were still great girls, it was just that they were not right for him. As they began to cry, the room became more and more uncomfortable until Damon could not stand it any longer. "That's all girls, please say your goodbyes and go home. I will miss you all"


	7. The Interviews

**The Interviews**

**Hi guys, no elimination this week! Next week though there may be a top 15, I know some of your favourites and some least favourites, but keep em' comin! Sorry this is a bit short but I have a massive assignment due soon and I really need to work on that.**

They all sat facing the cameras ready for the Capital Report. Their maids had obviously pulled out all the stops on hair, make-up and dresses. But as always, there was a stand out. Everybody else had opted for dark colour, mimicking the weather outside. Maya Wells on the other hand, mimicked her personality. Her shimmering bright yellow dress was like a tulip in a field of grass. The tone worked perfectly with her skin, and her hair was the envy of the other 19, in a tight, classy bun centred perfectly on the top of her head.

Naturally Damons eyes were drawn to Maya, but once Felix Fadaye announced they would be on air, he quickly readied himself for the screens, they would be showing his reaction the girls first interviews soon so he would have to look as though he was not focusing on one particular girl, not to look bias this early on. After the financial report and war updates from his father, Felix spoke up.

"Now I know what all of you are really waiting for, it's time for our first live interviews! First up I believe we haaaave Kiva Griffin, 8. Come on down Kiva…. So we have to get through this quickly, I have another 19 girls of course so let us begin! Tell me about you first impression of Damon, what you thought when you first met"

Kiva giggled, _stupid, _she thought _I don't want to seem shallow, but how do I want to seem? _"I thought he was very handsome and very funny too"

Many of the interviews went much the same, girls commenting in his looks and his humour. Telling Felix stories of home or of the Palace, or why they would like to make the palace their home. And just like there was a stand out in the looks, there was a stand out on the interviews. It was not this time Maya Wells but surprisingly Queenie Reynolds. She spoke with ease and was, in Damons opinion, very relatable. However that was merely Damons opinion. The King, The Queen and the country had a very different idea on who the stand out was.


End file.
